BURLINGTON, VT – Providers are reevaluating their teleradiology services for a better price and improved quality, and hospitals are poised to replace their PACS systems, according to research firm CapSite, which released its 2011 U.S. Teleradiology Study and 2011 U.S. PACS Replacement Study on Monday.

Both studies provide voice of customer (VOC) insight from 360 healthcare providers across the United States.

CapSite's teleradiology study found that 31 percent of study participants currently using teleradiology services indicated they have plans to reevaluate their current services in the next 18 months. The top reasons cited for reevaluation were a better price and to find improved quality of service.  Participants said that in looking for a new provider, the most important measure of quality is highly-qualified radiologists conducting study readings.

[See also: Study: CTC, teleradiology can bring cancer screening to rural areas.]

"We found that healthcare providers are generally satisfied with their current teleradiology service provider. Additionally, 65 percent  of healthcare providers have been with their teleradiology service provider for more than three years," says Brendan FitzGerald, research director for CapSite.

"It will be interesting to see how these levels of satisfaction are impacted by the consolidation we have seen in the market over the past six months," FitzGerald added.

Capsite also released the findings of its analysis of the Radiology and Cardiology PACS marketplace. The objective of the study was to assess the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and HITECH Act on recent and planned PACS purchases in the U.S. hospital market.

[See also: Hospitals plan to invest in new information management systems.]

"Our study found that 52 percent of the Radiology PACS systems in use within hospitals today are more than five years old.  In contrast, 70 percent of the Cardiology PACS systems are less than 5 years old.  Additionally, we see a steadily increasing Cardiology PACS adoption curve over the past seven years, with 2010 showing nearly twice the adoption as in 2009", said CapSite Senior Vice President and General Manager Gino Johnson.

"The Radiology PACS market activity peaked during 2005 to 2007," Johnson said. "We found a slight uptick in planned Radiology PACS replacements from our original study conducted in 2009 where 17 percent of hospitals planned to replace their PACS as compared with 21 percent in this most recent study."